Friday, January 30, 2009

the holy grail of hairsprays


Whenever someone compliments me on my hair, they always follow the comment with, "what do you use in it?" And the answer is always the same - nothing but hairspray. Sure, I dabble in straightening balms and heat protecting sprays and root boosting mousse every now and then, but the only thing that I swear by every single day is hairspray. I personally think that too many people are scared of hairspray so they never go near the stuff. They layer on hair serums and gel and shellac and all this other gunk so their hair ends up needing a good scrubbing before they even leave the house - sometimes, all you really need is a great finishing hairspray.
The one that I'm obsessed with is Paul Mitchell Extra-Body Firm Finishing Spray. This isn't your grandma's stiff and sticky hairspray, people. And don't let the "extra-body" part fool you into thinking it'll make your hair HUGE, because it won't. It's more of a flexible, weightless spray that makes your hair do what you tell it to.
Three ways for hairspray to work its magic:

1. After blow-drying my hair straight, I hold the can 6 inches from my head and spray all over. Right after spritzing, I comb my hair using a wide-tooth comb. It stays straight, smooth and frizzless (it's humidity-resistant - SCORE) all day.


2. When I wear my hair wavy, I wrap sections of hair around a 1-1/2 inch curling iron. After curling my whole head, I flip my head over, "rake" my fingers through my hair, then flip it back over and spritz with the hair spray. The spray holds the wave all day but I can actually run my fingers through it.


3. I hate washing my hair. Hate hate hate. It's boring, time consuming, and quite frankly I think my hair looks better when it hasn't been washed for a day or two. Unfortunately, by then, by roots might be a TAD too limp for my liking, so I flip my head over, aim the hairspray at my roots, spritz, and fluff with my fingers. The alcohol in the spray soaks up the greasies and makes your hair look freshly washed - almost.

What's your favorite hairspray? I'm open to trying new things, but it's going to be hard to pull me away from this one. ;)
xo


the big bang theory


In my quest to change my hair again (I get bored), I decided to do something I swore I never would - I cut bangs.


As you can see, these are full-on, blunt, thick bangs (I've done the wispy thing and the sideswept thing before, so I wanted something different), In my years of witnessing bad bangs and self-hair-cutting catastrophes, I've realized that all you need to know is what to do and what not to do, and it's really hard to screw up.


1. Don't cut WET hair. Wet hair (or even damp), as you know, appears longer than it really is. When you cut hair wet, you're bound to cut more than you want to. Snip while your hair is dry and you'll get the exact length you want.


2. Don't PULL your bangs while cutting. Same principle as the wet-hair thing. Let hair lie flat and normal while you snip so you know exactly where your bangs will fall on your face.

3. Don't listen to people who say to cut bangs holding a scissor vertically. If you're after blunt, straight across bangs like mine, you'll need to hold the scissor horizontally and cut that way (that's what I did). Makes sense.

Now, for the DOs:

1. Do make sure your hair hits at a comfortable spot on your face. You don't want your new bangs to stab you in the eyes. A good length, I think, is right under the browbone.

2. Do train your hair to lie FLAT on your face. After cutting, wet your bangs, then blow-dry them side-to-side (like a back and forth windshield wiper motion with your brush) aiming the dryer DOWNWARD. This will get rid of your natural part (mine was a stubborn middle one) and eliminate curled-under 90s bang syndrome which we've all had.

3. Do shampoo your bangs every single day, even if you don't wash the rest of your hair daily. Greasy bangs are not pretty Another perk to doing this? Your forehead will be less likely to break out.

So there you have it. If you're still nervous to cut them yourself, get thee to a salon and enjoy your new fringe benefits :)

xoxo

post numero uno :)

First of all, I want to say thanks for visiting my blog and WELCOME! For those of you who know me, there's probably one thing you could ever imagine me blogging about - the wonderful world of beauty. I can't WAIT to share all of my crazy beauty escapades with all of you. You'll hear me rave (or rant) about salons I go to, which deep conditioners transform hair and which ones are utterly useless, how to create the perfect smoky eye for nighttime, how to apply self-tanner so you don't come out looking like an Oompa Loompa, how to wear bronzer so it looks like you're the proud owner of high cheekbones, how to keep your lips from cracking and chapping in 10-degree weather, and a bazillion more beauty topics. I hope that my posts inspire all of you out there to try new things, experiment, and most of all, have FUN :) ENJOY!

xo

P.S. - I LOVE feedback and comments and questions and suggestions so if you have any, please post them in the comments section. Is there a product you want me to try so you don't have to? Lemme know...